When I lived in Canberra, this blog was a diary of my lunchtime adventures in the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Seeing so many interesting things each lunchtime gave me the idea to practice my photography and share my experiences. In 2011 I moved to Brisbane and gained a position as a research scientist at CSIRO. This blog follows my latest adventures as I learn about the wonderful wildlife in this region.

Saturday, 6 August 2011

Goodbye beautiful garden

All good things must come to an end, and its time for me to leave Canberra and move on. I am sad to leave Canberra and very sad to leave the Botanic Garden where I have had so much fun exploring and taking photos. We will be staying in Australia - we are moving to Brisbane, to start an exciting new life in the sub-tropics! I hope I can continue my nature blogging in some form from there - watch this space...

Thanks to the people who have taken an interest in my blog and all the lovely comments. Taking an idea from Red's Australia blog, here is a round-up of three of my most memorable posts from the past year and a half...My most popular post

Bowerbirds lovemaking in the lovenest

My most viewed post by far is my 'David Attenborough' moment where I captured the Bowerbirds lovemaking in their love-nest. I spent many lunchtimes seeking out Mr. Bowerbird and watching quietly as he chugged and whirred his way around the bower. My video camera skills are very amateur without a tripod but what an amazing thing to see and I was so excited to share it on my blog.

My most beautiful post

Lovestruck Galahs

I think my most beautiful story is the Galah love story post. I looked up one day and two Galahs were kissing and cuddling on a branch above me, they really were so sweet. I got some great pictures of them as they gave each other little pecks and cooed. Extremely cute.

My personal favourite post

A Brush-tail Possum in the red spotlight

I waited a year to go on the 'Twilight Adventure' in the Botanic Garden last August, and I wasn't disappointed. It was such a privilege to go into the gardens at night, there is so much to see in the bush after dark! The best moment was a close encounter with a Tawny Frogmouth, such a strange night bird. I also discovered many more Kangaroos are in the gardens than I thought, and caught a glimpse of a Sugar Glider.

These are just a few memorable moments, others include watching the baby Wattle birds grow, a soldier beetle mating frenzy, cute bathing parrots and the challenge and reward of trying to photograph many fast moving little birds like the Eastern Spinebill, New Holland Honeyeater and Spotted Pardalote! Watching the seasons change in the garden and the wonderful colours and aromas of the beautiful flowers (at least, those that don't give me hayfever) has been fantastic. I was really chuffed that my Cicada photo was a finalist in the ABC 'summer bugs' competition, and I recently discovered that this blog featured as 'website of the month' in a recent issue of the ABC Gardening Australia Magazine! Such a wonderful two years, thank you ANBG, I will miss you.

Twitter / ANBG

Brisbane Adventures/Lunchtime Adventures is part of the Nature Blog Network

About Me

My name is Dr Hazel Parry and I work for CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences as a Research Scientist. I specialise in spatial ecology and ecological modelling.
My research interests include: agent-based and individual-based modelling, computer simulation of crop pest population dynamics and dispersal, grid computing, geographical information systems, environmentally sensitive farming and predicting the implications of policy and environmental change for agricultural landscapes.
Publications